My Window
by Child-Of-God13
Summary: Bella has watched all her life. Watched from a window. With HSAN you can't do anything else. So what happens when a coincidence brings this hidden next door neighbor of the Cullens into the light? Can they help her and her blind mother? And love? BxE
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

BPOV:

Everyday, from the time I was four months until I turned seventeen, I sat at this window and watched.

I watched birds, trees, and bugs. I watched the wind, the snow, and the rain.

At, least, until a couple of years ago I did. Since then, I've watched vampires play.

The vampires assumed that this shack was empty; holding nothing more than a skeleton of the human that once lived here. They were wrong. This shack was home to my blind mother and I, forced to stay inside for eternity.

Hereditary Sensory and Autonomic Neuropathy, Type IV. The seven words that ruined my freedom, my life, and my parent's marriage. The reason I was here. I mean, you know there's something wrong with your child when she doesn't even cry when she's getting shots.

HSAN is four very long words for your-nerve-endings-are-dull-and-you-can't-feel-pain, and your-body-can't-regulate-your-temperature-so-if-you-get-too-hot-or-go-in-to-the-sun-you-could-die. In short, I stay inside, and have done so my whole life.

My body can't regulate its temperature, and it won't know if I get too hot. If I do, I could die within the time span of an hour. In other words, I have never been outside.

The weather is unpredictable, which is why I am unable to move from this shack.

Every month my mother, being blind and all, receives a check from the government. It's a small amount, but that's okay, because we don't have many bills. Lighting and heat is not needed; the light would only heat my body up. So all we need is food, water, and air conditioning. Clothes are not needed.

I usually live in a sports bra and polyester shorts; the safest, coolest outfit possible. I never leave the house and my mother is blind, so no one ever sees me.

Our groceries are ordered and delivered once a month; the same order every single month.

I do not go to school. How could I? The district doesn't require air conditioning rooms to fifty-nine degrees Fahrenheit. I had instead learned everything I knew from the ten books I received every Christmas from my Father.

I guess that bring mw to our neighbors, the unusual Cullen's.

The Cullen's are vampires. I know because normal people don't walk that fast, sparkle in the sun, look that beautiful, nor attack rabbits in the front yard. I also know that normal humans cannot run so fast that they look like blurs, and neither do they stay outside all night without ever seeming to get tired.

I have watched them for so long I know them all by name and what they are like.

Carlisle, the "father" figure, is a doctor. I see how he comes home with his medical bag everyday, and clothed in a bleached lab coat.

Esme is the mother like figure and I know she is very loving, even for a vampire. She is also Carlisle's mate, and it's obvious how much they love each other.

Edward is a mind reader. He's always complaining to the others 'stop thinking about that' or 'why are you blocking me,' so what else could he be? He is also the only one without a mate, and I must admit, he is quite good looking, not that I have much to compare him with. But even against his two 'brothers,' he is the most handsome. He is also the youngest, best as I can tell.

Alice is some kind of vision-seer. She will always go into these trance-like states then explains what she "saw" and such. I also know she is a shopaholic by the amount of bags she returns with every Saturday afternoon.

Jasper, Alice's empathic mate. I often observe the whole family wrestling and messing around on the front lawn. I look intently at their faces, watching from time to time as they go from happy to angry in almost point five seconds flat. I know it's him, because he always remains unaffected, while the rest are angry and attacking each other, he'll be just standing there. I also know that Jasper has the most trouble with the animal diet the Cullen's are on; after all, he was the one who attacked poor little Thumper that one day. He also seems to have trouble whenever the mailman comes around, hence the rabbit killing I witnessed.

Emmett is the huge one, and he always wins. Beyond that, there is nothing much to say; I'm sure you understand.

Rosalie is Emmett's mate, and by far the most beautiful woman to walk the earth. She may be vain, but she is gorgeous.

Sometimes I open the window, so that I can hear bits of their conversation. The shack is small, two stories, with a single bedroom. We are only ten yards from their beautiful house, but they never seem to notice. Well, I must say, that sometimes when I open the window, they glance this way, then grumble about 'Carlisle needs to go clean that' and such.

This house is not ours. It belongs completely to the Cullens, we've just been living here a long time. It's on their property, but we've continued living here because they have never asked us to leave.

My mother is not old, though looks may be deceiving. When my mother contracted Scarlet Fever that settled in her eyes, I think she pretty much lost hope. She now sits in the rocking chair downstairs. Not moving, not talking, and leaving me to my lonely self.

The nice thing about Forks, however, is the weather is rainy more often than not. This way, I at least have the small pleasure of opening the window.

My window is the portal to the world. Something I am free to observe but never touch. Nope, never.

I have watched the birds.

I have watched the trees.

I have watched the Cullens.

And I have watched the Cullens being watched.

Every once in a while, in no distinct pattern or schedule, a woman will be in the bushes. A woman with red hair, so vibrant, it could be a stoplight. Her skin is pale, much in comparison to the Cullens and I, but still covered in freckles.

Occasionally the woman is not there, but there is always a man in her place. A man with clean features, covered by what I assume is blonde hair, but it is hard to tell because he is not there as often as the woman is.

The Cullens skin sparkles in the sun, as I watch on longingly. My skin is so pale, from never seeing the light of day, that I would fit right in. Then again, I wouldn't. I wish I could go run around, but I can't.

I wonder why they never notice my mother or me. I know there is something different about us. Vampires cannot find us. Either that, or they are pretending that we are not here. I'm leaning towards the first, but you can never be sure.

The delievery guy always comes while the younger vampires are at school, Carlisle is always at work, and Esme at her monthly gardening meetings. It's odd, how none of them have ever come to investigate or explore, but I'm sure our peace won't last forever.

I sigh, and turn back to my window to watch.

Watching is the only thing I am good for.

The only thing.

AN: let me know what you think!!

Now a lot of you are thinking I've bit off more than I can chew, and I probably have. I can't help it, when I have an idea, there's no stopping me.

Now, no updates until Monday or later. My speech reading is Sunday, in front of close to a thousand people, so as you can imagine, I am totally freaking out.

PLEASE REVIEW!!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Not mine

Chapter 2

EPOV:

I laughed and shoved Emmett into a tree.

"Okay boys, this is getting old. Let's play something more fun." Alice complained, a twinkle present in her eye.

I rolled my eyes; she already knew what we were going to play. "Any ideas?" I crossed my arms.

"Truth or dare!" She shouted.

"Yes!" Emmett said, pumping his fist into the air. He always got a huge kick out of playing games, no matter what game it was.

"Okay! Edward first. Truth or Dare?" Rosalie asked animatedly, I couldn't understand why she was so happy.

I rolled my eyes again, I would have to pick dare or I would be teased about my manliness for the rest of eternity. "Dare."

"Jury!" Alice called and everyone gathered around her, deciding what my fate would be. I stayed out of their minds, only because last time I looked Alice tackled me.

I heard whispers of things, little pieces of conversation with an occasional 'no, not that.' After about a minute they had the answer.

I was worried when they turned around, evil smiles on each one of their faces. "We dare you to go into the haunted shack." Emmett stepped forward, acting as spokesman.

I could feel my eyes go wide. Ever since we had moved in we had concluded that someone, who had once lived in that shack, died. While we were not here of course. We also believed that whomever it was left their spirit behind, a spirit that would open windows and such. We also had guessed that some kind of animals still lived in the house, because we could hear a heartbeat and occasional light steps on the floor. We knew someone had probably died because we could still smell the faint human odor.

Carlisle was pretty sure a woman had lived there, just because the way the blood smelled. He was also pretty sure that two cats still resided there, because the animal footsteps were light.

I took a deep breath. Carlisle had instructed us not to go in to the shack, for fear of upsetting the restless spirit. And yes, spirits do exist, just like vampires. Spirits were said to have unlimited power, especially that to kill. It was rumored that their power was so strong they could even kill a vampire. It was also said that spirits were more peaceful towards humans than any other creature.

I decided to try and get out of this the only way I knew how. "But remember what Carlisle said…" I trailed off bringing the conversation back to their minds, hoping to refresh their memories.

"Yes, I do remember. But he's not here, and he'll never know." Alice pointed to her head.

"But didn't he say spirits can kill vampires?" I asked, trying to keep my fear out of my voice.

"Oh... Is some one too chicken?" Emmett smirked.

That's when it got to me, I was absolutely fuming. I uncrossed my arms and began to make my way over to the shock muttering curses under my breath.

I walked up to the door, not bothering to knock. I doubted the spirit would care.

I opened the door and walked in, admitting to myself that I was a little scared.

I was startled when the smell of live blood reached my nose. Someone was living here, and that someone was most certainly alive.

What I saw next made me stop short in my tracks. A woman, who looked like she was about thirty, was sitting in a chair and was staring right at me.

"Mr. Woodworth? Is that you?" The woman muttered. I had no clue what she meant so I tried to read her mind, but to my utter surprise, it was just blank. Her smell was also quite faint, along with her voice, which was so quiet I was surprised that any human would be able to hear.

That's when I looked at her eyes, and I immediately noticed the milky white film covering her eyes. So she was blind. I cleared my throat. "Um, no ma'am, my name is Edward Cullen, I live next door?" I couldn't help but feel a little intimidated, she was a human (of that I was sure), but she was extremely overweight. Which I concluded, was from the lack of movement, meaning something else had opened the window upstairs…

"Bella? Dear, someone is here." She called out feebly. She said this quietly, at the very bottom of the human hearing range.

I heard the sound of footsteps from the stairs behind me, and when I turned I was meet with a gorgeous sight.

There, walking down the stairs, was the most beautiful human I had ever seen. She had long, flowing, brown, wavy hair, and skin just as pale as mine. The way she walked, it looked more like floating, and her footsteps were light. So that's what was here, there was no spirit or no cats. This thought alone made me smile.

The next thing I noticed was her attire. She was scantily clad in a pair of blue running shorts and a blue sports bra, which barely covered her large bust. She was long legged, with not a freckle on her face. She looked as if she had never see the sun. She immediately gasped when she saw me, drawing me to the conclusion that someone else was supposed to be coming.

But, she didn't make an effort to cover herself up, which surprised me. This girl was white as a ghost, but she sounded more modest than that. I tried looking into her mind, but again, I found nothing.

She looked at me in confusion then spoke. "I'm sorry, but who are you?"

I was momentarily stunned by the smoothness of her voice. It was so melodic, like none I'd ever heard before. But just as I was about to reply she gave me a perplexed look. "Aren't you cold?" She asked, looking down at my body. I was dressed in shorts in a T-shirt. Her voice was soft, and very quiet, and if I weren't a vampire I probably would have had trouble hearing.

"Not really." I answered and that's when I felt the cold, though it didn't have an effect on me. "How cold is it anyways?"

"Fifty two." She looked over my shoulder and spotted the door and screeched. "Close the door!"

I immediately turned and closed the door. "Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm-"

She cut me off. "Edward Cullen, vampire, mind reader. Got it." A half smile appeared on her face.

"How did you know?" I asked in a whisper, still shocked at hearing these facts voiced by this gorgeous girl.

"I-" she was about ready to reply when I heard a voice behind me.

"Eddie! Has the spirit gotten you?" Emmett called from our porch.

"Um, I gotta go, but I'll come talk to you later." I said it slightly rushed, but still slow enough so that she could understand.

She nodded. "Close the door behind you." And with that she drifted back up the stairs, the blind woman remaining un-moved in the chair.

I quickly ran out, putting my act on.

"So Eddie, how was it?" Rosalie smirked, taking after Emmett.

"Um I saw the two cats chasing each other around, I uh, found the blood, but no spirit, though I could hear it." I quickly ad-libbed, for now I wanted to keep this mysterious Bella to myself, just until I found out more about her.

"Oh, well I guess that didn't turn out too bad." Jasper shrugged.

I smirked, if only they knew. "Now I believe it's my turn. Emmett." I grinned evilly at him. "Truth or Dare?"

AN: Let me know what you think!

Based on my writing, how old would you guess I am? And for those of you that know YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE!! Anyway just wondering what my writing portrays me to be!

PLEASE REVIEW


	3. Chapter 3 POLL

Disclaimer: nothing is mine

_Disclaimer: Nothing is mine._

Chapter 3

EPOV:

It was slowly getting dark outside and I longed to go see the mysterious person again.

I had spent all afternoon thinking about her, but some things didn't add up. For one, she was obviously my age, but did not go to school, for I would have seen her there. Another thing, her and the blind woman seemed to be immune to all of our talents, even the smell of their blood was weak and different. I mean, Carlisle had been around for centuries and even he hadn't been able to smell the two humans living there. Also, most humans would have frozen at fifty-two degrees, but she seemed right at home and had even asked me if I was cold.

I walked down the stairs, not trying to be particularly stealthy, but not trying to draw attention to myself either. Carlisle was working the night shift in the hospital, and Esme was doing laundry. Jasper and Emmett were occupied by their video games, while Alice was re-organizing her closet. I checked the garage to find Rosalie busy working on her M3. Now was the perfect time to "go for a walk."

I headed towards the front door, and just as I had suspected Emmett decided to be nosy. "Hey Ed, my man, where are you going at this time of night?"

Any normal time and I would say hunting, but Jasper usually joined me, and this I had to do alone. "Just going for a run, to clear my head." I repeated this just as plan, carefully monitoring my emotions, being sure to only send out truthful and distraught ones.

Emmett, not interested in what I was doing anymore, turned back to his game. I slipped out the door unnoticed. I made my mind up, showing that I was deciding to go for a run, to make sure Alice would have a vision of me running and nothing more. Then, I slowly made my way over to the shack.

I stood at the door for nearly twenty minutes, trying to decide if I should knock or just walk in like before. Finally, I resolved to just walk in.

"Hello?" I called out softly, knowing from before that both of the women had very good ears. I looked to my left to find the blind woman asleep in her rocking chair, her deep breathing the only noise in the room.

I turned towards the stairs when I heard the nearly silent footsteps once more, there she was. She was still only in the sports bra and shorts, though she had obviously put her hair up, I knew she had not been sleeping. "Hello again. Come upstairs so you don't wake her. She has ears like a bat." The girl motioned to the blind woman.

Suddenly a thought occurred to me. "Is she your mother?" I asked.

She smiled in return. "Yes... I'm Bella Swan by the way." She walked up the stairs just as quietly as she had walked down. I continued to follow her down the hall to the only open door.

When I walked in the room, I was surprised to notice the emptiness. There were some blankets situated on the floor, in an arrangement relating to a bed and there was a huge stacks of more than a hundred books in the corner. Other than that, there was nothing. Her clothes were piled next to the books, and from what I could see, they were just bras, much like the one she was wearing, underwear, and shorts.

There were no light fixtures in the room, and the only light came from the window, which was covered by an old ratty towel. Deciding to interrupt the silence that had fallen between us, I began to ask some simple questions. "How old are you?"

"I just turned seventeen a few weeks ago. When were you born?" I noticed the way she asked when I was born instead of how old I was.

Since she already obviously knew our secret there was nothing to stop me from telling her the truth. "Well I am seventeen, but I was born in 1901." She raised her eyebrows. "So how did you know I am a vampire?"

"I watch." She pointed to her window. "You guys have quite a few games that reveal that you're not humans."

She was speaking quietly, so quietly it was hard to believe she was human herself, but I knew she was. Her blood didn't lie. "Why don't you go to school?" I asked in return, wondering why we never see her.

She just shrugged. "Not much for school I guess." I could tell she was lying. No one like her would break the law...without a reason.

But, I decided to let it slide. I would find out the truth eventually. "So why are you living in this shack?" I asked. She knew that her and her mother were trespassing on private property, and could be arrested.

"Do you honestly think we have anywhere else to go? My mom can't work, and neither can I." She sighed, obviously ashamed of this fact.

"That makes sense." I looked towards the window, checking my family's thoughts, glad to know they were all still occupied.

"You're not going to kick us out, are you?" She had a pleading look on her face, I could tell this was her worst fear.

"No, of course not. But eventually, I'm going to have to tell my family, and you'll have to meet them." I ran my hand through my hair, knowing I wouldn't be able to keep this to myself for much longer.

"Oh, I thought you already told them." She frowned.

"No, not yet, but I don't know how much longer I can keep it up." I told her sorrowfully, I could tell that they were desperate. "Which reminds me, I should be heading back before my family gets too suspicious."

"Alright, but please come visit again. My mother isn't much company, and I get bored by myself." She looked down at her lap, where her hands were folded.

"Of course." I replied, when an idea suddenly came to mind. "Though next time, I need to bring my sister Alice because she-"

She cut me off. "Can see the future?" I nodded, I should have known she was that observant. "That's fine, and you guys can just come in. Knocking will startle Renee."

Renee must be the name of her mother, I concluded. "Good, well I'll talk to you later I guess?" I couldn't help but phrase it as a question, it sounded like I was inviting myself over to her house.

"Yes, you can show yourself out I presume?"

"Yes, of course." I answered then made my way out the door using vampire speed. I made it back to my house and headed up to my room, checking everyone's thoughts on the way. No one had any idea what had just happened.

For the first time in months I felt just a bit happier, and I knew it was all do to the strange next-door neighbor I had discovered. The neighbor that went by the name of Bella Swan.

**AN:**

**PLEASE REVIEW!!**

**By the way, a message for the judges for my contest. At the bottom of my profile are all the stories entered in my contest so far. The titles Unexpected and Seeing Double are complete, so you may start judging those too, if you would like!**

**Thanks to SwanBella228 my beta for this story. **

**By the way, school is almost over and I have so much studying to do so there will most likely not be anymore updates on any of my stories until Friday or so. But I promise that this summer I will try to have at least one update per story per week!**

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	4. Chapter 4 POLL

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Chapter 4:

"A next door neighbor?!" Alice said in a loud whisper.

"Shh, keep it down. I don't want everyone to know yet." We were both out in the woods, only about ten feet from Bella's house.

"How come she's seventeen but we never see her at school?" Alice hissed as we slowly sneaked up to the shack. I shifted through everyone's minds carefully, ready to alert Alice at any moment if someone noticed.

"I honestly didn't ask." I realized just how little I knew about our neighbor.

"Well, why don't we ever see her outside? Does she seriously just sit in there all day? And how do they get mail? Seeing as they don't have a mailbox or car. And what about food?" Alice started talking faster as she figured out more and more reason why things didn't add up.

"I don't know!" I said this a tad louder, my voice fueled by my annoyance.

"Well, what did you talk about then?" Alice put her hands on her hips as we walked in the door.

"Um just about our ages and why she lived in here." Glancing around I noticed that Renee was sitting in her chair, rocking, and just staring off into space. I was about to ask her where Bella was when I heard a noise from behind me.

"Don't worry, that's normal for her." I couldn't control my body as I spun around to see Bella standing, just as beautiful as ever, at the bottom of the stairs.

"So Bella, what's with the clothes?" Alice asked, motioning to Bella who was, again, wearing a sports bra and shorts. Meanwhile in her mind Alice was planning the next shopping trip.

"I get too hot if I wear anything else." She shrugged, motioning us to follow her as she walked up the stairs.

"Too hot?" Alice had a look of horror on her face. "It's freaking fifty two degrees in here! You could freeze!"

"Not me." Bella said, sitting down on the makeshift bed in her room. Alice made a beeline for the pile of clothes. The room didn't have a closet and was so small the makeshift bed took up half the room, and the pile of stuff took up a quarter, leaving only a little room to stand right by the window. I noticed for the first time that she didn't have a door, and her room was the only thing on the upper floor, in fact, the stairs came right to her door.

This was such a tiny shack, and I was amazed she didn't get claustrophobic.

"Oh my gosh, Bella! We have to go shopping! Right now!" Alice glanced out the window into the rain, knowing it would be fine for us to go outside.

Bella's eyes widened when she mentioned 'go shopping.' "No, no I can't leave the house!" Her breath started to quicken and I could tell she was frightened. What was she so frightened of? "You guys don't understand, I can't go outside, not now, not ever."

Alice's thoughts immediately began to get frustrated, she didn't get why she couldn't go outside. "What do you mean? Do you just plan on spending the rest of your life in this dumb shack?" Alice snapped.

Bella looked down at her hands that were folded neatly in her lap. I had never noticed just how straight her posture was until now. "Yes, there is nothing else I can do. I don't have a choice."

Alice was fuming now. Her thoughts were somewhere along the lines of 'Everyone can go outside! What the freaking hell is she talking about?' Alice let out a low growl of frustration. "You do to have a choice! And you ARE going to come!" I had to agree with Alice. I didn't get why Bella couldn't go outside. I mean sure, she was just as pale as us, but we can go outside we just don't want to.

Bella let out a groan of frustration. I watched in horror as a tear leaked out of her eye and ran down her face. "You don't understand. I would love to go outside, but I can't."

"Why not?" I probed. If she didn't have a good reason, and tell us in the next five minutes, I was sure Alice would just drag her out of the house, ignoring any protests.

"It's-It's complicated, you guys wouldn't understand." Tears were still slowly making her way down her face.

"I'm sure we could figure it out." I urged. Alice was still sitting by the pile of clothes, arms crossed like a little child.

"Well you see-" She started but was interrupted by a crash downstairs.

"EDDIE, ALICE!! WHERE ARE YYYYYOOOUUUUU??" Emmett's booming voice called out, followed by a girly shriek. "AHHHH THE SPIRIT!!" I couldn't help but let out a chuckle. Emmett screaming like a girl-wait, EMMETT?? What was he doing here? In my worry about Bella I had totally forgotten to watch my family's thoughts. Without another word I ran down the stairs. Finding Emmett poking Renee like a little kid.

"Is it dead?" poke. "I heard Alice and you and thought-" poke. "That maybe you had come back to check out the spirit-" poke. "But-wait, where are you guys anyways?" Emmett looked up just as Bella came to stand next to me. "AHHH ...Who are you?!" Emmett jumped nearly a foot in the air, realizing at the same time that they were both humans.

"Hello Emmett, I'm Bella, and that is my mother Renee." Bella motioned to the woman he was poking. Renee meanwhile had woken up and opened her un-seeing eyes.

"Emmett, these two live here. There is no spirit, just them." I whispered, trying to help clear up Emmett's muddled thoughts.

"You mean-" poke."-the whole time-" poke."-it was just them?" Emmett practically stuttered.

"Yes Emmett, now please stop poking Renee before you hurt her." Bella said calmly as if she weren't in a room with three powerful vampires-one with muscles so huge you'd think he was on steroids.

I looked around the small room realizing how crowded it was. "Why don't we all go back to our house and discuss this?" I suggested.

Bella started biting her lip. "I can't right now, but why don't you tell your family then come back later?" Bella had that nervous bunny look you see on most criminals who are being questioned.

I decided not to push her. "Alright, lets go back home and come visit later guys." I ran my hand through my hair, waving as we slipped out the door.

?POV: (AN: who could it be? No telling if you know!)

I watched as they walked back into the house.

Ugh they were so annoying, especially that one. I came here to get rid of that one, the one that had ruined my existence.

That one was _mine_.

AN:I know the last part was confusing, but it's supposed to be!

Now here is how I am going to update from now on: when I have 'em I'll put 'em up. So instead of pestering me for updates, pester my beta's cause they are the one's controlling the story now...lol

So, for this story go bug SwanBella228 (thanks by the way)...well actually, don't bug her yet, cause she doesn't have the next chapter yet! (I will say that it is half way done!) but go bug her in four days because she'll surely have it by then...

NOW Go VOTE IN MY POLL! and review!


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.

Chapter 5

EPOV:

We made our way back to the house in a trance.

She was so different. I mean, most kids would love to see our house or go shopping with Alice. But, here was a girl turning her down for no reason at all.

I knew from the time I met her that something was different about Bella. Not only was it her beauty, the way her blood smelled faintly, or the way she moved and spoke so quietly. If I hadn't smelled her blood when I first met her, I would have taken her for a vampire, which is unusual in itself.

We quickly explained to the whole family the happenings of the past few days. Rosalie was surprised to say the least. Esme and Carlisle immediately wanted to meet her, and Carlisle was interested in meeting Renee. But we decided to wait until the next day.

I headed up to my room, pulling out CD after CD looking for the perfect one to fit my mood. I finally settled on just listening to Claire De Lune, a song fit for any mood.

As I sat there listening to the soothing music, Bella came to mind.

She seemed frightened of the outdoors, not wanting to go anywhere, and the temperature of the house was almost unbearably low. There was no way a normal human could live there and not get cold, especially considering the state or dress Bella was usually in.

Stretching out on my couch, I resolved to ask her about it tomorrow, then sank into the wonderful world of oblivion.

APOV:

The plan was flawless.

Edward was busy with his music, the rest of the family also otherwise occupied. I knew Bella would love me for this, what girl wouldn't want to go shopping? She was insane.

It was nearly eight o' clock and Bella would be getting up right about now. Lucky for me, it was cloudy outside along with the wonderful temperature of seventy degrees. I grabbed my purse and keys and headed over to Bella's house.

Slipping in, unnoticed, I headed for the stairs, walking in Bella's room to find her just sitting there, in her bra and shorts, staring out the window.

Before she could even register what was happening I grabbed her and squealed, making sure she knew it was me.

Immediately she began protesting as I carried her down the stairs and into my car. I simply blocked her out, passing Renee silently as possible. Starting the car in my eager manner, I couldn't wait to get to go shopping with my new buddy!

"-You don't understand! Alice! I need to get home right now! We have-" I tuned into her protests for a second, quickly regretting it as my ears were filled with her mindless chatter. I planned to put a stop to her complaints.

"Yes I understand perfectly." I replied, sitting up a tad bit straighter. "You just don't want to go shopping with me because you think it'll be really boring. But that's where your wrong, I'm going to show you how much fun we're going to have!" I finished with a loud squeal. I hadn't had any visions of what was going to happen, because Bella probably hadn't made a certain decision yet, but that's fine, I know she'll enjoy it.

Suddenly, she gasped and touched her arm. "Alice you need to turn around right now, you don't understand, my life-"

Rolling my eyes I pushed the gas pedal down harder, she was just trying to get out of shopping, there was nothing she could do.

Otherwise my name wasn't Alice Cullen.

EPOV:

"Not wanting to go outside, no going to school, trying to keep cool…" I mumbled to myself. Something about her sounded familiar.

That's when it hit me. I shot off my couch and dashed down to Carlisle's study, grabbed a book called "The Worlds Rarest Diseases." I quickly flipped to page eighty-two, my memory going into full searching mode.

"Hereditary Sensory and Autonomic Neuropathy." I whispered, skimming my finger down the page. "Type one…no." The symptoms weren't quite right. "Type two…close, but not quite." The symptoms were almost exact, except for the mental illness part. "Type three…" I grimaced, no way Bella had type three. "Type four…Bingo." Whispering to myself, I double-checked all of the symptoms. Everything matched perfectly.

Running down the stairs I found everyone but Alice watching Home Improvement on TV, I rolled my eyes, I needed the whole family before I could make this announcement. I tried listening for Alice's mind, and what I heard nearly made me have a panic attack.

'Bella will love shopping with me, I don't get her protesting, what girl doesn't like shopping?' She was so excited I could practically feel her brain jumping up and down like she was surely doing now.

Running to go stop her, I headed over to Bella's house, and that was when I panicked. Bella wasn't there. Which meant only one thing, Alice was somewhere in this seventy degree weather which could potentially kill Bella, and Bella was with her.

I ran back to my house. "CARLISLE!" I shouted, this was bad, this was very bad.

"Yes Edward?" He asked, still calmly sitting in front of the TV.

"I figured out why Bella is so different." Looking around the room at their faces which were filled with curiosity I continued. "She has Hereditary Sensory and Autonomic Neuropathy type four." At this, Carlisle gasped. I quickly explained what it was to the rest of the family, which caused them to gasp also.

"Poor Bella." Esme sighed.

Then, I dropped the bomb. "And I think Alice took her shopping." I have never seen everyone move so fast, but in thirty seconds we were all out in my Volvo. Now don't be confused, the whole explaining of the disease took less than two minutes, even so, I was worried we wouldn't get there on time.

According to the book, in this seventy-degree weather, in an enclosed car, she could overheat in less than an hour.

And in this situation, overheating, meant death.

AN: Sorry about my no updating. I have been so busy and my brain is in the middle of a drought-idea wise-so if you have suggestions for any of my stories please let me know.

Anyway, I have all of Bella's outfits for this story put together. Go to my profile (vote in my poll) THEN scroll down to 'links' and click 'clothes' then click on the images to see the details(bottom of picture) and larger versions on the images…

AND AS ALWAYS REVIEW!!


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight

_Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight._

Chapter 6

BPOV:

Panic surged through my mind.

I wouldn't be able to tell that I was overheating, but I knew that if didn't cool down soon-I could die.

When Alice pulled up at the mall she was still chattering about something or other, intent on blocking me out. I suddenly had an epiphany. Vampires were cold, so if I could somehow get Alice to give me a piggyback ride I might be okay…who was I kidding? I needed to be in my fifty-two degree environment, and I needed to be there soon.

"Alice, please you don't get it!! ALICE!" I yelled, trying to get through her mindless chattering. Then an idea crashed into my mind. "I'M GONNA DIE!" Screaming at the top of my lungs in front of a mall (or at least I assumed that's what it was) had not been on my list of things to do, and I regretted my decision for a second as soon as everyone in the area turned to look at me. But I knew this was self-preservation.

"Aw, don't be silly Bella it's just shop-" Something must have happened because she suddenly went still. Then she started mumbling under her breath. "Why the hell are they coming here I mean I knew…"

Rolling my eyes I turned and started running back to the car. I pulled on the handle, but it was locked, I should have known. "Alice I need to be in a fifty two degree environment at all times, or else I could over-heat and die!" As soon as the words left my mouth, her head snapped up and her mouth formed a perfect o.

Suddenly something must have clicked in her mind, because next thing I know I was being shoved into her car and the air conditioning was blasting. "My God Bella, I am so sorry. I still don't get what's going on but-"

She was interrupted when I was suddenly jerked out of the car and shoved into a silver Volvo and sandwiched between Rosalie and Edward immediately. I also took notice that Edward wasn't wearing a shirt and almost as soon as the thought came into my mind I was lifted and set on his lap, my entire back in contact with his cold chest, his arms wrapping pulling the shirt Alice had put on me, revealing my sports bra. His arms felt strangely comforting on my stomach, like they were meant to be. The car felt like my home, and I could tell they were speeding way to fast as they headed back the way Alice and I had come.

My head started hurting. I wasn't sure if it was because of the stress or if my body really was over heating. This had never happened before, so there was no certainty in my thoughts. I turned and pressed my forehead to one of Edward's rock hard abs, and was surprised to hear his sharp intake of breath. This nearly caused me to pull away, and I actually started to, but Edward's arms quickly came up and encased my shoulders, his silent way of saying it was okay. My headache started to become less prominent and I hoped it was because I was doing okay.

The car skidded to a stop and I was immediately picked up and carried inside a house by Edward. At first, I was sure it was my house, but I soon realized there were electrical lights on the ceiling, meaning I had to be in the Cullen's house.

I immediately recognized the familiar temperature, which matched that of my own home. Home. That's when it hit me. "Renee, she can't care for herself." I muttered this into Edwards shoulder, trying to keep my face against his chest. Luckily, Edward heard me and started frantically whispering to Esme.

Then everything was submerged into darkness.

We were in the basement, or cellar, or whatever is under the Cullen's house. A cold light was shined on my face, while Carlisle immediately started examining me and putting multiple thermometers in my mouth and ears. I felt a sharp stab in my wrist and knew he was taking the temperature of my blood. Thankfully my father had sent me a book about my disease years ago, so I knew what had to happen next. Carlisle pulled my bra down slightly and stuck another needle in my sternum-taking my bone temperature. My shorts were quickly pulled up and another needle was put in my thigh, this one stung. I felt the tears leaking out of my eyes as he continued to take blood. I looked up to notice that everyone but Carlisle had vacated the room-probably due to the blood.

Carlisle instructed me to roll over as he placed the next needle in my spine, taking some of my spinal fluid and sticking a thermometer in it as he had done to all of the other samples. After that came my ankle, then my palm, then the last one. The last, was the worst. For the last test Carlisle would have to draw cells from one of my internal organs-to test their temperature. Before he even started he scribbled down a whole bunch of things. So far, all of the tests had taken less than three minutes-which was the way it was supposed to be. Quick, simple tests.

Carlisle quickly started feeling my stomach, looking for my liver, something he could take cells from and not have to worry. I cringed as he pulled out the extra long needle-not that I needed it because I was so skinny-but he had to follow the correct procedure. When the needle entered my skin and touched my liver I couldn't help but cry out in pain. This, caused someone to open the door, slam it, then come running down the stairs.

Then Edward was there, quietly wiping away the tears that were silently running down my face. I could tell he was holding his breath.

Finally, we were done. Carlisle quickly tallied something on his clipboard then turned to me. "Good news Bella. Your blood did heat up quite a bit, but your internal organs and bones are completely fine. You were very lucky this time."

Edward and I both sighed in relief.

I had made it out okay.

AN: Thanks a bunch SwanBella228 for helping me, now here's my rant. If you've already heard it plug your ears and pretend to not hear me.

So I got a review. Now I can take constructive criticism, and in fact I like it. I can take if somebody tells me one of my stories is crappy. But this person said something that really hurt. He/she said that all of my stories were horrid and didn't deserve to be on this site because they were all exactly the same and that I should just delete them all and give up writing until I could actually learn to write. And this really hurt me. I actually cried after I read it. After that, of course, I looked at all my stories, and I noticed they all do sound a lot alike. And I actually found myself getting ready to click the delete button for this story and many of my others. But I didn't. So then I threw the chapters I had originally planned to post next in the trash, trying to come up with something new. So this depressed me and just didn't feel like writing at first. And even now it'll probably take me longer to update because I want to make sure my stories don't sound the same.

Either way, thanks for listening to my rant and for supporting me, I'm sorry for keeping you waiting and please review.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.

Chapter 7

BPOV:

Since my death scare yesterday, Renee and I have been spending our time at the Cullen's. Carlisle wanted to monitor my blood temperature to make sure it returned to normal, besides the Cullen's didn't have practically see-through walls and an ancient air-conditioning system. In fact, Carlisle had inspected our shack and said I couldn't go back until they updated the air-conditioning system, because, in it's current state, it was actually quite dangerous to my health-something I didn't know,

I still didn't wear clothes though, and I had to constantly remind Emmett to turn off the lights, because they radiated too much heat. I hadn't yet been anywhere besides the basement, because it was the coolest part of the house. The Cullen's had moved two beds down. Never having seen one before, I was surprised by the sturdiness, Renee hadn't said much, and I was pretty sure that everything had over whelmed her. I mean, seriously, she usually slept in a rocking chair, and I usually slept on a blanket on the floor.

It was now the next morning, and I was sitting on the floor, looking at the wall, having nothing else to do, when Emmett came booming down the stairs. I glanced up in surprise as Edward followed silently behind, I hadn't seen any of them since last night, and I was starting to get hungry, but I wasn't about to say anything.

"Hey Bella! Wanna play Halo 3?" Emmett asked in his loud voice, and I winced because I was used to people talking quieter. "Carlisle said you could come up from the basement as long as we leave the lights off and the air conditioning on at full power!"

"Um, what's Halo 3?" I suddenly felt stupid.

"YOU'VE NEVER PLAYED HALO??" His jaw dropped after he yelled. "Next you're going to tell me you've never watched TV." He mumbled under his breath.

Again, I felt utterly stupid. "What's TV?"

This time Edward's jaw dropped as well, both of them staring at me. "What have you been living under? A rock?" Emmett asked.

I wondered why I had never read about TV's, I mean I read a lot, but most of the books were turn of the century, or medieval and such. I had heard of going to see a 'movie' but I wasn't quite sure what a TV was…

"C'mon Bella! We're going to go watch Home Improvement!" Emmett grabbed my hand and started dashing up the stairs, Edward right behind us. Shoving me down on the couch, Emmett grabbed a black square and turned on a blockish thing with something looking somewhat like how Movie screens are described. I watched as people moved and talked just like real life, that's when it clicked. TV's were just like Televisions! I couldn't believe I hadn't made the connection before. I remembered reading about these, they were like mini movie screens in people's homes.

The show that was on was quite funny, I remember laughing at Tim and Al when they went ice fishing, and at some point, I could feel someone's eyes on me. I looked up to find Edward's topaz eyes boring into mine. We haven't spoken since two days ago when he introduced Alice to me. He had wanted to talk to me while I was getting poked for blood samples, but I knew he had to hold his breath, being a vampire and all.

We stared at each other for an immeasurable amount time, but eventually he snapped his head up, I assumed he just heard someone's thoughts. I swiveled my head, just then noticing how Alice stood in the doorway of the somewhat dark room. I had been so involved in staring at Edward I had barely noticed that the sun started setting.

Then Alice's eyes suddenly went blank, and she started to tip over, but just as she was about to topple, she seemed to snap out of it. Next thing I know, her eyes are directed at Edward, and by the look in his eyes, I could tell Alice and him were having a silent conversation.

"Bella, what would you like for dinner?" Alice's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "Or, if you want to cook, you can give me a list and I'll go to the grocery store for you."

I bit my lip. "Um we usually just have our groceries ordered in. But if you could run to the store real quick, that would be great."

"Okay, what do you want me to get?" Edward asked, reaching for his keys.

Lemon Chicken sounded good, it was a dish that you cooked but ate after it was cooled. Oh, and by the way, I couldn't eat scorching hot food, in fact, I could only eat cold or barely warm food, or risk the danger of my stomach cells heating up. "Just get a lemon, parsley, two boneless chicken breasts, red and green peppers, peppercorns, lettuce, a tomato, baking soda, and some salt." I recited from memory, and I could tell Edward was making a mental note of each ingredient. Then a thought hit me. "Wait!" I called just as he was about to leave. "Pick up a stick of butter, a box of frozen waffles, and a box of granola bars please." I wanted to make sure they wouldn't have to go right back out again for breakfast tomorrow, and the granola bars were for in between meals and snacks to hold me over.

"Got it, and write me a list tonight and I'll go out again tomorrow and stock up on food for a whole week. And don't worry, Carlisle spent last night hooking up our fridge for the first time since we've been living in this house." He chuckled along with Alice.

He smiled, then turned and left. I looked back at the TV, the thought of food making my stomach growl, and Emmett laughed as he heard it. "My your hungry."

"Just because you don't eat doesn't mean you don't get hungry, and don't play stupid, you know exactly what I mean. Your stomachs just don't growl like humans do." I retorted.

"Well, uh…" Emmett was trying to think of something witty to say back, but it wasn't working. "Well…uh…at least I'm better looking than you!"

"I know." I looked back down at my lap as Emmett turned back to the TV. I knew I was plain, no match for their vampire beauty.

No one would ever take interest in me, especially with my disease.

When Renee eventual passes, I'll be alone.

And I'll remain alone until my death.

AN: Hey everyone if you haven't heard I'm really sick, and so I don't know when I'll get a chance to update again. But until then…PLEASE REVIEW!!


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.

Chapter 8

BPOV:

"Hey Bella! Emmett and Edward have a bet will you be the judge?" Rosalie breezed in the room, coming to stand right next to me where I was looking out the window. I had been living with the Cullen's for nearly a week now, and I had discovered that they were amazingly nice, in a way that's different for vampires.

When I was first told I couldn't go home until the air conditioner was updated and repaired the Cullen's explained their lifestyle to me, and I, of course, told them how I had learned a whole lot by just observing them. They also grew accustomed to my wardrobe, which was still the same as ever with a few new articles from Alice "What type of bet is it?"

Rosalie smiled. She had come across as really mean and sort of rough when I first met her, but when you get to know her better she is almost as motherly and kind as Esme. "They have a bet to see who can cook better."

I smiled. "Sounds interesting, but remember I can only eat cold or barely warm foods." The Cullen's had quickly adjusted to the way things had to be, no lights, no hot water, no hot food. And once when Emmett accidentally turned the light on Edward was there and quickly shut off the light then checking my temperature to make sure I was alright.

"Yep! I'll tell them the plan!" Rosalie smiled then waltzed out of the room in a way I only wish I could walk. Edward and I had been getting closer in the past week. Except, I really had nothing to compare to. Besides Carl, the grocery guy, I hadn't had any contact with the outside world, ever.

The Cullen "children" had been at school all week and supposedly had tons of homework for the weekend (but knowing them they'd be done in five minutes), which was why it was no surprise when I walked in the kitchen to find Edward doing his homework. Looking at the textbook that was open in front of him it said 'Trigonometry'; out of curiosity I started looking over the shoulder at the numbers splayed across the page.

In all honesty I had no clue what it was talking about. My mind tried reasoning out the questions, but five minutes later I was still looking at the exact same problem. The biggest problem was that I didn't know what the world 'factor' meant, nor the word 'quadratic' I tilted my head to the side, trying to at least get the gist of what it was talking about.

"I bet you're pretty good at math. What problem are you on?" Edward looked up and motioned to the page. "I can do nearly thirty in less than five minutes." This made my eyes widen. "How about you?"

"Um." I could feel my heart beating faster. "I can't do any math. I haven't done any, I'm still trying to figure out what 'factor' means." I felt utterly and ridiculously stupid.

Edward must have read Jaspers mind because he immediately started to apologize. "I'm sorry, I forgot, I mean, I assumed…"

"It's fine." I replied. "Just remember I've never been to a school or even outside…well unless you call Alice's kidnapping as an outing."

He appeared to be deep in thought for a moment, and then he opened his mouth to speak again. "You can read, correct?"

"Correct." I had no clue what he was getting at.

"But other than that you know nothing of science, history, or math?" His excitement was evident in his voice.

"Well I know some from the history book I received from my dad but other than that I don't know any of the others."

"Which is where my idea-wait. Did you say your dad?"

"Yeah." I shrugged as if it when the most normal thing in the world.

"Where is he?" Edward's eyes were wide and I could tell he was shocked.

"I don't know." I sighed, looking down at the table. "Every year he sends me a box of books on my birthday, he also pays some child support, and other than that we hear nothing from him. He divorced my mother shortly after she got Scarlet Fever and lost her eyesight. Ever since then she's been really depressed."

"How old were you when they got divorced? If you don't mind me asking."

It was neat how he was obviously not forcing me to answer, not that I wouldn't. It was just that I had read so many books about people who were forced to answer or face social outcast or something else horrible. "I think I was almost a year. I don't know for sure though, Renee never talks about it."

He sighed. "Well before we got off topic I was going to say that we could enroll you in online school. Not only would it keep you safe but we could start you at a first grade level and you wouldn't have to worry about being embarrassed."

I smiled. "Sounds like fun, when do I start?"

?POV (Guess who!?)

"Alright here's what we'll do. We take that one," She pointed to the being that stood by the window.

"The pretty one or the human one?" The other one asked.

"Which one do you think stupid! The one that's been around longer!" She snapped, slapping the other one lightly upside the head.

"Well excuse me for asking a simple question!" He growled a little louder than he should have.

"Hello?" Someone called from the house.

"Shhh! Geez, do you want us to get caught?" The female one shushed the other. "This is our revenge, we can't mess this up."

"Well actually if I remember correctly this is your revenge. I'm just going along with it so you won't shun me." The other one, who was a male, whispered.

"Whatever, hand me the blueprints."

"What blueprints?" The male's eyes widened.

"The ones that you were supposed to get! The ones we need so we can know the layout of the house!" The female was getting annoyed; it seemed like whenever they were doing something she always had to do all the work.

"Right! Those blueprints." The male began to mutter under his breath. "I, uh, sort of stashed them somewhere for safe keeping."

"And where would that be?" The female was just glad he was at least able to find them, besides they had all the time in the world to complete their plan.

"Uh, I, uh, kinda…forgot." He mumbled he hated it when she got mad.

The female rolled her eyes. "And to think you're a vampire." She then rose to her feet and dragged the male with her.

They would have to do this the hard way.

AN: I know I said no updates for awhile but I completely forgot I had this chapter and didn't post it! Anyway please review and judges please remember to have the sheet back to me by the 27th!


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight

Chapter 9

BPOV:

"Alright! Who's ready to RUUUUUUUUUUUUMBLE!" Emmett yelled this so loud I instinctively ducked my head and covered my ears as an automatic reflex. Renee groaned from somewhere in the other room.

When I looked up after a few seconds I found Emmett standing in the kitchen wearing the brightest red apron I'd ever seen, a spatula in his right hand. I shook my head; this was bound to be interesting.

Turning back towards Edward I found all his schoolbooks had been put away and he was wearing an apron almost identical to Emmett's except it was black instead of bright red. A spatula had also taken up residence in his right hand.

"Bella you get to choose the recipe because you are the judge." Esme proceeded to hand me a giant cookbook still wrapped in its plastic. This factor led me to assume she had purchased the cookbook simply for this occasion. Gently, I began to flip through it, looking for something that sounded appetizing that didn't involve cooking. Or if it did involve cooking, that it was served cold. After a few minutes I found a picture of a very appetizing pasta salad.

"I choose Italian Pasta Salad." I pointed at the picture then at the recipe. Then to my surprise suddenly there was a second cookbook open to the same page being handed to Edward. Emmett quickly snatched the one out of my hands. "I, uh, can't be in the kitchen during the cooking of the pasta because it involves turning on the oven. So can, uh, someone make sure they don't cheat during that part?"

"Don't worry I will keep a very close eye on them." Esme answered standing by her stovetop. Emmett hadn't looked up fro the cookbook since he had ungraciously snatched it from my hands.

"Um. This doesn't look very good." Emmett complained.

"Shut up and cook. Unless you're scared." Jasper Taunted. I blinked to find that Jasper was also in an apron with a spatula (though unneeded at this point). I blinked again to make sure I wasn't seeing things, but then Alice snickered and I knew she was getting back at him for teasing Emmett. Jasper sighed; he knew there was no way out.

What happened next was weird. A third cookbook was opened to the same page, the exact same book as the others. I must have had a surprised look on my face because Alice supplied a short but defining answer. "I had a vision that we would need three, otherwise they would argue over them and who was cheating off of who." I nodded, then because I knew the pasta being cooked came first, I wandered out of the room.

In the living room I found my mom sitting in front of a window rocking slowly in her rocking chair, her face ever twisted into a frown of permanent sadness and despair. How often, growing up had I wanted, no needed, to be close to my mother, but now, looking at her, I realized she was but a shell of the woman she once was. Charlie had been everything to her. She had loved him, but he had not loved her. That, or his love was not strong—for it could not overcome her disability. I tilted my head down, thinking on how, though the Cullen's had been generous, I didn't belong here.

My mother, she deserved this kindness, this easy life. She had done so much to try to hold herself together for me, when I knew all along that she only wanted to fall apart. As I had so many times. How often had I dreamt of walking into the sunlight and ending it all? Only to remind myself that Renee needed me, and abandon that path of destruction completely until the next time.

Kneeling by the window at my mother's feet, I stared out the window. My mother, she belonged here. I was a puzzle piece out of place. As soon as this thought passed through my head I began to formulate a plan. Even though I had never attended school somehow my sub conscience knew the plan would work. Perhaps I didn't know math, but I did have some medical smarts from the books I read on my disease.

"Okay Bella! The stove has cooled down you can come back in!" Esme said from the kitchen. But when I entered the room she nearly jumped out of her skin for some reason. Sitting down at the table I watched the boys continue to struggle cooking the salad; I hadn't realized how long I had been pondering in the living room until that moment. All three boys had boiled the noodles and allowed the stove to cool down.

Silently, I observed the mixing of spices. Just by looking, I knew that Emmett's pasta salad was going to gross, apparently he didn't know how to measure a "pinch" of paprika and oregano. And just from the smell in the air I could tell that someone, most likely Emmett had used too much onion. The recipe only called for a teaspoon…an amount that should leave almost no scent in the air.

A few grumbles and spoon stirrings later, three plates of food were deposited in front of me. Edwards and Jaspers both had a sprig of parsley like the picture displayed. Emmett's, oddly enough had a bunch of carrots hanging off the side. When I gave him an inquiring look he shrugged. "I thought you would want the entire carrot instead of just the green stuff on the end."

I couldn't help it, after he said this I laughed. Leave it to Emmett to confuse parsley for the leafage on the end of carrots. Sighing, I picked up my fork, taking a modest bite of each. Then another, and a third, just to be sure.

Emmett's was nasty, just as I expected. I pushed the plate away. "Emmett you need to learn how to measure spices. There is too much oregano and WAY too much garlic." Emmett looked crest fallen for a second, but then a light bulb must have gone off in his head because he smiled and ran up the stairs.

Next, was Edward's. Well I found where all the onion had gone. Glancing at the cookbook I realized Edward must have been in a hurry and put a cup instead of a teaspoon. Without cringing, I pushed this plate away as well. "Too much onion Edward, make sure you look at amount measurements carefully." And then he too glanced at Alice then disappeared upstairs.

Now on to the last plate. "You win Jasper, it's almost perfect. Just add some salt next time to give it a tiny bit more flavor." I rose to my feet and carried the plate of food out to Renee and placed it gently in her hands. "Eat up. It's very good. Jasper made it." Without a question or word of thanks, my mother took a bite, then another. She quickly cleared the entire plate and I took it carefully back into the kitchen.

Looking around, I didn't see anyone. They must have gone into the living room. A quick survey of the living room proved this wrong. That's when a white sheet of paper on the counter caught my attention. "Gone hunting for a few days. Rosalie is upstairs if you need her. Edward will be back in forty-eight hours to let Rosalie come hunting. Sorry for the short notice, but Jasper was desperate." This made complete sense, and I wasn't the least bit offended.

I glanced out the window. It was late September. It should snow anytime now. Then I could put my plan into action.

Because, no matter how anyone looked at it, I didn't belong here.

AN: Sorry it's been so long. But I'm back! Please Review!


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight

Chapter 10

BPOV:

The white flakes fell ceremoniously onto the already covered ground. From the window, the world looked to be a winter wonderland, the flakes the happy residents of this mystical world. I only wish I had been invited to live in that happy world.

Turning I gathered a change of clothes and put them in my back pack with all the non-perishable food I had found in the kitchen, enough to last me awhile. Tucked in the front pocket was a hairbrush and a few twenty-dollar bills that had been sent by my father that my mom had given me for "someday." I didn't own any pants so I had to sneak a pair of Alice's slacks earlier this morning. Leaving a couple of my twenties in exchange. I didn't have a jacket either, so I felt bad but I took what looked like a light rain coat from Rosalie that didn't look too expensive or well worn, leaving my last twenty as payment.

Walking down the stairs silently as I had been for years I evaded Rosalie, and by thinking of nothing but finding my "lost" toothbrush I ensured that Alice wouldn't have any visions of me doing anything but searching the bathroom for my toothbrush, which was currently in my backpack—in case I ran up with society anywhere. I resolved to head north, knowing that somewhere I would find an abandoned cabin with a thermostat I could turn off.

My mother was still sitting rocking by the window. "Mom, I'm sorry but I have to leave."

"Why Bella? The Cullen's have food I'm sure, wait until they get back." Her small nearly silent voice replied.

"I'm not coming back mom. I don't belong here. The Cullen's well they're nice, but they're not my family. You are." I sighed; I hadn't realized how hard this would be to explain. "But you need to stay here, they can take care of you better than I ever could. You know me, I hate being cared for. I'm independent, and always have been, you're the one who taught me to be so." I placed my hand gently over hers.

"Oh Bella, I won't stop you. I can't bring myself to do so—you're so much like your father. So beautiful, so independent. I've never seen your face, but I know you have a heart of gold Bella. Don't let anyone ever tell you any other way." She sighed then continued. "I had no idea how to raise you. But I never needed to; you raised yourself, and did a great job. I only wish I had been a better mother." A tear escaped from the corner of her eye.

"You tried. It wasn't your fault." I embraced my mother for the first time in years.

"But your disease. I could have insisted your father take you to see some sort of doctor. I could have helped you learn. I could have taught you, but I didn't." More tears flowed.

"You taught me how to be patient, and how to live with my disability." I tried to reassure her. "Mom, I love you, and I always will. This place, it's just not for me. And I feel like I'm burdening the Cullen's, forcing them to keep all their lights off and making them paranoid that I could die on their hands. If I were to die, I wouldn't want anyone to be responsible, which is why I have to leave mom." At this point silent tears were streaming down my cheeks. "I read the medical book mom. I know what could happen."

Renee let out a soft sob. "You've beaten almost all of the statistics already. Most kids with your disease don't live past ten, much less sixteen. It's just so hard. Because I know you're right, I've never met an adult with HSAN type four before." I embraced my mom tighter with these words.

"I know." I sobbed. "And I can't let anyone be blamed for nature taking its course. God never meant for me to live long I suppose." I pulled back to take a look at my mom's face, staring into her cloudy but unseeing eyes. "Like that book dad sent me, Marley and Me. Remember when I read it out loud to you?" My mother nodded a half smile on her lips. "There was a line in there-"

She cut me off knowing where I was headed. "Dogs go away to die."

I smiled through my tears. "Think of it like that mom. Please, don't let the Cullen's come after me. But if they insist on looking tell them I headed East, hopefully I'll be way out of their way by then."

"Alright. I love you Bella. I know I was silent so much, but I do. And that's why I know you have to do this. I just wish, I could see how beautiful you've become." This sentence caused more tears to fall.

"Someday mom, someday in heaven." Without another word I kissed Renee on the forehead and hugged her goodbye. Then I grabbed my backpack and headed out the door into the snow of the front yard.

Looking at the trees I headed east, because the only place the Cullen's could go to hunt was north, so I'd have to weave my way around them. Hopefully I would have quite the head start if Renee stalled like I hoped she would.

Not even my mother could deny medical science. The book my dad had sent stated that fifty percent of HSAN patients died before the age of ten, ninety of what was left by fifteen, and only one patient had made it past twenty, only to die two years later at twenty-two. And it was said that women seemed to die much sooner than the males. I was sixteen, and I wasn't sure what I would feel before I died. But something was off, and I didn't want the Cullen's to be blamed if anything happened.

Quickening my pace I headed towards the road…trying to suck it up and be brave, but my efforts were in vain.

Because this could be my last day alive…

?POV:

I saw the girl exit the house. I glanced at the snap shot in my hands. She had said the girl was home alone, and though I couldn't see her face I assumed she had dyed her hair. It had to be her, I'd been waiting six hours for the signal, this had to be the girl!

After a moment I realized she had a backpack on and was headed towards the woods! She was trying to evade me! Well this wouldn't do, not at all; no one evaded me on my watch.

Without a sound I approached her from behind, grabbing the sack out of my pocket and throwing it over her head.

To my surprise she didn't struggle much. So much for having vampire strength. The backpack on her back was pretty heavy so I resolved that as soon as I was far enough away from the house (that the Cullen's wouldn't discover me if they decided to return early) I would take it out and throw it away.

My captive was unusually silent. Hm, oh well, all the better for me. I smirked thinking of all the torture I would inflict on this idiot creature.

"Breathe deeply Rosalie, because these breaths will be your last."

AN: Sorry I didn't have a beta, again. (Also the statistics above are not true statistics. I altered a few medical facts so it'd fit with this story.

PLEASE REVIEW!


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight in any way, shape, or form.

Chapter 11

RPOV: (Rosalie)

"Bella?" I called walking down the stairs. Edward had just phoned me saying he was on his way back for us to trade out. Walking into the kitchen I glanced around, but it was empty.

Don't get me wrong, I hadn't even realized that I'd been in my room for a full forty-eight hours until Edward phoned, I felt bad that I hadn't hung out with Bella. Time passed so quickly when you had forever to live. "Bella/" I called again, a bit louder this time. She should had heard my first call though, in the past few days she'd done nothing but prove how uncanny her hearing was. "Bella!" I tried one last time. That's when I remembered Renee.

"Renee?" I didn't say this in a voice larger than a normal conversation level. I knew she'd hear me. "Where's Bella?" I set my hand on her shoulder. I'd never been one to be gentle, and I was in no way a public relations director, but I knew Renee felt better when people touched her so she knew where they were when they were talking to her.

"She's grown into such a beautiful young lady. I only wish I could see her face." Renee replied, seeming not to have heard me.

"Did she go down to the basement? Did she go take a nap?" I tried again, this time setting a second hand on her arm and kneeling down a bit.

"She's grown up so much. I wish I could see how beautiful she is." Renee answered, basically re-wording her previous answer.

"Renee, I need to find Bella where is she?" I was running out of patience at this point, not that I had much to begin with.

"She's just so beautiful at heart. I know she must have a face to match, I only wish I could see-"

I cut her off. "Renee I really need to find Bella, and I know she's beautiful, now please, where is she—" That's when I felt the heat vent on the floor by my foot come on. "Renee, why is the heat up?" I was frantic at this point. Carlisle had explained to us the dangers of the heat to Bella.

"She turned it on for me. Because I was cold, she couldn't stand to see me cold. She's just so selfless. You know when she was little she would look at pictures in picture books and point at the dresses the princess would wear and turn to me and say 'Mommy why don't you wear dresses like that? You must be a princess or a queen you're so pretty' it always made me smile, even though I couldn't see the picture. Her favorite was—"

Yet again, I halted her speech. "Please, Renee I need to find Bella. This heat could kill her." I felt like a fool not realizing it earlier, but my skin was so cold in the first place it still felt cold to me even with the heat on.

"Bella. So beautiful." Renee said, wishfully looking unseeingly in the direction of the window.

Try as I might Renee volunteered no more information, which caused me to go into a frenzy. I ran into the basement, tearing everything apart, throwing the beds across the room. When this search didn't yield anything I dashed upstairs and began tearing apart our rooms. I started with Edwards, then moved to Alice's 'Dressing" room which was solely for her clothes. Next I tried Carlisle's office. Just as I was opening the door to Alice and Jasper's room I heard the door open down stairs and quiet footsteps walk across the floor. Without thinking I dashed down the stairs, "Bella, My God I was so—" I stopped when I nearly ran into Edward at the bottom of the stairs.

Edward must have read my mind because he didn't even let me explain. "What do you mean you can't find her?!" Without a word he dashed upstairs and began dashing through the rooms again calling her name. Within seconds he was back down, running to the living room.

"I already tried Renee." I replayed the conversation in my head for him. Either way, he still bent down and questioned Renee on where Bella was.

"Beautiful, so Beautiful. I wish I could see her." His questions going no further than mine. It seemed all Renee could talk about was Bella's beauty. He glanced at me, a frightened look in his eyes, and then whipped out his cell phone, speed dialing someone—Carlisle I assumed.

"Carlisle, it's Bella, she's gone. Rosalie ripped apart the entire basement and searched through everyone's rooms. She's not anywhere, and Renee doesn't have any idea where she is." Edward said this in such a panicked manner I got the feeling that her cared a lot for Bella, more than he was letting on. Carlisle replied that they'd be back immediately and hung up.

I hadn't fed in so long I knew I had to or run the risk of attacking Renee. Edward glanced up and me and nodded slowly, having read my thoughts. And with that I dashed out in the woods. Time for some fast food.

EPOV:

Ecstatically I ran back towards the house, I was so happy about seeing Bella again. It had been a long two and a half days. Of course, like always, we had a lot of fun camping, but I still missed Bella more than I should have.

I was so immersed in my thoughts I didn't think to check Rosalie's thoughts as I was nearing the house. Views of Bella preoccupied my mind, for some reason that I couldn't fathom she was stuck in there like glue and wouldn't come out. Slowing down as not to startle Bella I opened the door and walked in the house at a human speed.

Just as I was nearing the stairs to go change I was collided into by Rosalie "Bella, my God I was so—" Immediately my mind snapped to searching hers. I could practically feel my eyes widening in horror as I realized that she hadn't seen Bella in over forty-eight hours, and that the heat had been re-turned on.

Without thinking I shouted. "What do you mean you can't find her?" And I immediately dashed up the stairs and ran through all the rooms she had yet to search, desperately looking for Bella. That's when an idea popped into my head and I ran down to talk to Renee.

Oh God, the thought of loosing Bella caused pain to go shooting through my chest. I didn't know why, but for the first time in years I felt pain that I was pretty sure wasn't physical.

After attempting to talk to Renee, calling Carlisle, and granting Rosalie permission to go hunting, I collapsed to the floor. For whatever reason, my body was on autopilot now. My mind hurt, the thought of what could have happened tearing through and bruising my mind. After a few moments I decided I better compose myself before the others arrived. I wasn't any help to Bella if I was wallowing on the floor.

I got up and brushed myself off. My mind going into detective mode, first things first, if I was Bella and there was only one reason that I wasn't here, what would that reason be?

AN: Thanks for reading. Please Review!


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight in any way, shape, or form.

Chapter 12

EPOV:

Nothing seemed rational. I felt as if I was standing in the center of a hypothetical highway while the cars rushed past, their colors all one large blur.

"Alright so let's all think. If you were Bella why would you leave?" Carlisle started, ever the observant and wise one. There to pull us all out of any sort of tough situation. The man was so generous sometimes it was if he was human after all. Or angel, either way we all respected his authority.

"Well," Esme started out shakily as if she herself couldn't really think of anything but, like me, was desperate to at least have something—no anything to go off of. "She loved windows. And it's snowing, so she wouldn't have to avoid the outdoors."

"But it's only the first snow of the season." Jasper replied shakily. "We all know it won't stick for long. She has maybe been gone overnight. At the most forty-eight hours, depending on when she disappeared."

Alice was almost as hysterical as I was. "But I didn't see her leaving, all I saw was her looking everywhere for her toothbrush."

"She's so smart. Ever the bright one." Renee chimed in from the window, her unseeing eyes never glancing away from the snow she hadn't seen in years. "I used to read her books. And she point at the pictures and ask me what they were of." We could all tell she was a million miles away. "When I told her I didn't know, it didn't take long for her to catch on and start describing the pictures to me."

This didn't help us out one bit. "Emmett and Rosalie went to go search Bella's room to see what was missing. That way we'll know if she ran away or not." Alice supplied.

As if on cue, Emmett and Rosalie bounded up the stairs, not even bracing themselves before letting their findings pour out of their mouths. "Her backpack is gone, as are all of her sports bras, but the funny thing is, she left almost all of her shorts from what I could tell." Suddenly, Alice dashed into the kitchen.

"All the granola bars and bottles of water are gone!" Then something must have clicked because she ran upstairs. "Oh my God, I saw her planning on borrowing a pair of my pants earlier. I should have be suspicious, but I thought that-maybe-that-Oh God, this is all my fault."

"It's not your fault honey." Jasper soothed his wife, and calmed us all down a bit in the process. I immediately resented this calm, how could I be calm when Bella's life could be at stake?

"But," I felt the need to come up with a rational solution. "She didn't have any money, not that I knew of anyways."

"None of you ever heard her talk of leaving correct?" Carlisle had already asked everyone this, but I knew he was getting quite desperate.

"Could she really just have up and left?" At this point I was too confused to even focus on who was talking. Thoughts flew into my head just as fast as before.

"Did anyone really know Bella? I mean, maybe, she wasn't happy?" Rosalie suggested. This didn't sound at all like the Bella I had been talking to and growing closer too lately, in fact it was far from it.

"You can't keep a caged bird in. Or she will never sing." Renee's inputs were again making no sense to my ever-muddled brain.

"We must go and get her before the snow melts and she overheats!" I couldn't stand it anymore all this talking was only delaying us and costing precious time that could be the end of her life. And I had promised myself earlier that week that she would not die on my watch. "Since she obviously left of her own will she must be on foot. Even if she left forty eight hours ago she couldn't have gotten far."

"Edward is right, our best bet is to split up into pairs with someone staying here with Renee then fanning out the surrounding area." Jasper added, still sending out calming waves, knowing from my emotions that I was on the verge of a mental breakdown. Which made no sense to me. Why was I so worried about her? It's not like we were best friends or anything-

"She's never been outside, so she probably wouldn't know which way to head." Alice added, rubbing her temples. "Our best bet is for Edward and Carlisle to head east, Rosalie and Emmett south and Jasper and I north. Esme will stay here with Renee."

"What about west?"

"She wouldn't go west. She's not stupid. The shore is that way and there would be no where to go." I knew at least that much, I also suspected that her going south was improbable, but then again, I couldn't be sure so it was better safe than sorry.

Within minutes we were ready to go, desperate the find Bella. Whether we liked it or not, she had become part of the family in the past days. And it seemed that no one could bear the thought of her possibly wandering around aimlessly. Everyone was concerned, even Rosalie. Which is why, we were all ready to do whatever it took to get her back.

Well, at least I was.

?POV:

Working quickly AND efficiently at the same time had never been my thing. I was either quick OR efficient. Just like I couldn't run AND read a map at the same time. Last time I tried I ended up smacking into a tree then landing in some sort of mud puddle. She had made fun of me for the rest of the century.

But I needed to get this done before she, the boss, came back. Dumping the girl out I made quick work of binding her wrists with super strong chains; the boss said she hadn't fed in awhile so she'd be weak anyways. For good measure, I pulled a bandana around her mouth—for my own sanity and assurance. Making sure to lock all 50 locks that resided on our front door, including the one where you had to swipe a keycard (I found this lock positively stupid and unnecessary but the boss insisted on it).

She didn't even utter a sound. No begging, no pleading, no nothing. Wow, I didn't realize kidnapping a vampire was so easy; I should have done this centuries ago! Glancing at my captive it was impossible not to notice her vampire beauty. Such pale skin and gorgeous hair. The only thing that perplexed me was her eyes, they were still freaking brown. Probably contacts, I concluded, but I didn't feel like reaching in her grotesque eyes to find out. Though her head didn't move from where it rested against the wall, her eyes seemed to roam everywhere, jerking suddenly to me as soon as I would move so much as a hair on my head.

After awhile it started to get to me so I went up and turned her around to face the wall. Finally I could breath. Pulling out the maps and passports I began organizing them all, then I counted the money we had in our "savings" box. The boss knew the Cullen's would come after dear Rosalie so as soon as she returned we would be on our way to some remote location in Greenland.

Just as I was putting the money away and packing fake bags for the trip I heard the back window slide open and shut. I don't know why the boss even had a door with fifty locks when she always used the window anyways. She walked in the room pulling off her sunglasses and setting them down on the table on top of all my work. She saw the girl facing towards the wall and smiled at me, but then, she took a second glance.

The next thing I knew I was pinned under her strong arms on the floor. "Who and what the hell is that?"

AN: Please Review! And I have a question for you:

I'm looking for the perfect female name that represents a girl that is quiet, nice, funny, hard working, and very strong mentally yet caring(no twilight character names, please). If you have any ideas please let me know. I need the name for an upcoming story. Thanks!


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight in any way, shape, or form.

Chapter 13

?POV:

"Um Rosalie Cullen?" Geez didn't the boss have eyes? I pushed her off and stood up brushing the dust off of my designer T-shirt.

"What. The. Hell. That's a freaking human! You are such an incompetent idiot!" The boss immediately began inspecting the thing that I had tied to the wall. And it was funny, now that the boss pointed it out, the girl didn't look anything like the Rosalie from the picture.

"Oh, well would you look at that." I laughed looking at the picture. "My bad." I scoffed.

"Your 'bad?" The boss looked furious, I took a step back. " What the hell do you suggest we do? Now the Cullen's are bound to know something's up! And if she was at their house they're sure to notice her absence!"

"Um, we go to Greenland?" I suggested, she was obviously very angry with me. I didn't see the problem though, why did it have to be Rosalie? This girl would be easier to kill anyways and she was well behaved.

"You want me to spend my money to fly this…thing to Greenland?" She looked at me like I was crazy.

"Well you can't kill her if she's valuable to the Cullen's. I thought you wanted to torture them first?"

The boss' face broke out in a huge smile. "You know, I think that just might work."

Yes! I internally rejoiced. I was redeemed.

BPOV:

The two vampires were arguing. They'd been at it for so long they sounded like some ancient married couple or something.

My head began to hurt so I leaned forward to rest it against the wall in front of me. My stomach had been protesting awhile, trying to get me to feed it, but seeing as my hands were bound and these two vampires were sure to eat me soon, I had no choice but to try to ignore it.

The wall had a certain pattern to it. The boards all went the same way, but the grains etched permanently into the wood went the opposite way of the boards. It's funny how such small things can find your memory running itself back in time to a certain time on the clock, giving a fleeting image of things passing by, then return right to where it was. Leaving you groping for those images that you just couldn't seem to find.

Nothing seemed to process right, which brought me back to everything that had happened in the past few weeks. Meeting the Cullen's, getting a chance to go to school then realizing it just wasn't meant to be.

It was then that my thoughts were interrupted as I was lifted off the floor by a pale but strong arm. To my surprise it was the woman who lifted me up, not the man. And after she thoroughly inspected my face she set me down again.

"Yes, you'll do nicely." A grin spread across her face. "I think the Cullen's will pay preciously for their little pet back." I watched in silence as the man began undoing fifty some odd locks on the front door, some involved chains, others were traditional combination locks, and yet a few were key card locks.

The woman stood in such close proximity that I could hear her mumble "Idiot" as she grabbed her stuff and unlocked the chains my wrists had been forced to occupy. This allowed me to get a good look at her. She was beautiful, there was no denying that. With red curly hair that fell just past her ears she reminded me a bit of fire. She wasn't tall however, in fact, she was but a few inches taller than me, and I was five foot four. Her arms and legs were punctuated with muscle and her skin quite pale. Unlike the male however, who was also handsome, and possibly almost rivaled the woman in looks, the female seemed to have some brains in her head.

I knew the male must get headaches from the amount of air flowing through because he'd done nothing but prove how stupid he was. His first mistake was leaving a trail. When he took my backpack off he'd dumped a bunch of stuff out deciding to "confuse people" by discarding the backpack somewhere else. But even I, the suicidal kidnappee knew that he had just left a trail for the Cullen's to follow. He had also stupidly dragged me on the ground, leaving a nice imprint in the snow and a nice fresh scent trail any vampire could pick up.

The female was different though, there was intelligence in her eyes, and besides that, in the amount of time the male had taken unlocking the millions of locks on the door, the woman had found time to throw a backpack together, unlock me, and drag me through the back window. She proceeded to drop me in the back of a powder blue car scowling as the male took the next twenty minutes to start re-locking the door until finally the woman gave up and just screamed at him to get into the car.

That's when I realized that we wouldn't be coming back.

EPOV:

Carlisle and I hadn't gone far eastward when we found something unusual in the snow. It looked to be some sort of large imprint, and it dragged on for a while. The snow had fallen quick enough to cover it halfway, but not enough to completely swallow it from view yet. Carlisle recognized it was of significance and sub-consciously let his instincts take over, leaning down to pick up a bit of the snow, bringing it up to his nose to try and see if he could get a scent.

"Human." He said raising his eyebrows in surprise. "But it's masked heavily by the scent of vampire."

I nodded, it was odd to find vampire and human scents mixed without the scent of blood being present. From my knowledge besides the Denali clan and us no vampires were friends with humans for any other purpose besides killing them. This didn't prove or disprove anything about where Bella had gone. The snow had devoured any footprints she might have left before we even realized she was missing.

We walked on. Vampire speed was too dangerous because would could miss an important clue. Carlisle and I didn't talk much, it seemed too distracting. Besides that though, the winter night seemed almost too beautiful to ruin with idle chatter. I use the word almost because with Bella missing it couldn't possibly a beautiful night.

The cold air didn't bite me as it would a human, though I wished it did, then at least I'd have something else to focus on besides my fear that she was dead already and that we were too late.

Every so often I checked Carlisle's thoughts, and he knew it too, because he kept reminding me that Bella would be perfectly safe in this weather if she took off on foot like we suspected.

It wasn't long before it had snowed so much that there was no longer a path too follow, just as I was about to lean down and begin to rely on my sense of smell alone to follow the path, I noticed something in the snow, a scrap of pink fabric. I picked it up, and quickly discovered that it wasn't a scrap at all but it was in fact a pair of Bella's shorts! I began frantically searching the snow for anything else. After a few minutes of vampire digging with Carlisle, we had tracked down just about everything we had noticed missing from her room. The one thing that surprised me however, was that there was a wad of twenty-dollar bills among the stuff we found.

Carlisle and I quickly concluded that we didn't really have money lying around the house and we decided to call Esme and have her ask Renee if Bella had been saving money.

Renee was once again no help, because again she answered our questions as if she was simply talking to herself, and her answers sometimes didn't even apply to our questions. No matter how we re-worded it, it was a useless task.

Either way I knew Bella wouldn't steal and that was proof enough for me that the money was completely hers.

As I finished digging through the piles of stuff I searched the perimeter of the three-foot radius in which everything was found, only to come up with nothing new. No backpack, no nothing. Just as I was beginning to follow that thought further Carlisle called me over.

"Edward. I don't know if it'd just me but I'm sure Bella didn't have one of those." He pointed to an object in the snow.

I leaned down to get closer to it, only to find the object reeked of vampire. There, partially smeared and covered in snow, was a map of Forks.

AN: So I bet you're all freaking out about me starting so many stories and not finishing them all, well let me tell you something. ALL BUT ONE OF THEM ARE DONE! I'm just really busy and lazy and I can't seem to find the motivation to sit down and finish writing them all out. But hey, if you review with some encouraging words maybe my brain and fingers will get more motivated to type. Sorry for all the delays!

Please Review!


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight in any way, shape, or form.

Chapter 14

BPOV:

After so many gut-wrenching turns I had lost track of where we were going, which I was sure the female did on purpose. Even when we drove into a city she circled multiple gas stations and convenience stores before letting me out even once. Then, after she let me use the restroom and returned me to the car, she proceeded to spend a few minutes rolling around in the snow I had walked in.

It was obvious that we were still in Canada from the sheer amount of snow there was present. And for a while I was lucky, the vampire woman seemed to forget about my human needs, because she didn't turn the heat on in the car. But after about twelve hours and two pit stops something clicked in her head and she turned the heat on. From that point on I could feel myself getting drowsier by the mile. My thoughts became muddled messes and my body felt funny, something akin but separate from pain. I knew my body by this point was overheating and I was beginning to get slightly worried.

Okay, scratch slightly, I was really worried. But if this was my end, so be it.

However, fate had another idea. The woman kept freaking out, glancing in the review mirror constantly, until finally she jumped out of the car dragging my drowsy self through the snow by the collar of my jacket. The male also jumped out grabbing two of the three backpacks-the other one was on the female's back.

Through my half opened eyelids I observed the male locking the car and wondered what his deal was with locks. This thought was cut from my mind however when I saw a small object that looked scarily similar to a grenade leave the woman's hand and fly towards the car. The woman picked up her speed, dragging me so fast that snow started to go down my clothes, melting from the heat of my prominent fever.

The snow served its purpose however, and within twenty or so minutes I could feel myself waking up a bit more, the fog in my mind clearing out. And for the first time in my life, I began shivering uncontrollably. I couldn't feel the cold so the numbness didn't hurt, in fact I didn't even realize my fingers had gone numb until I tried to move them to sit up. By this point the woman had stopped and I looked up only to find we were in the middle of a parking lot. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the male pulling out a screwdriver and attempting to unscrew a license plate off a car. The next thing I knew the woman had torn off the license plate in one smooth motion, and was already pulling a different license plate from her backpack.

If I wasn't sure before, I now knew without a doubt that these people were vampires, and not the nice kind if any "kind" at all. The woman proceeded to pick me up and shove me roughly into the backseat of the now stolen car.

It took the woman less than a minute to hotwire the car and to begin backing out. I couldn't tell for sure how fast we were going but I knew it was above and beyond normal speed limits.

We made it to the airport not much later that day and as the woman pulled my jacket off and shoved a shirt over my sports bra she leaned close to my ear and started whispering. "You better behave. If you don't you'll be dead before you know it." She growled a bit to make herself more convincing (as if I wasn't scared enough already). "And here's the deal, you're my cousin and we're going to visit our grandparents in Greenland." She added. "Not a word unless some one asks, got it?"

I could barely bring myself to nod, the T-shirt felt so weird and heavy, the neckline was so close to my neck I almost swore it was choking me at one point. I'd never worn a shirt like this before. Even when I was running from the Cullen's I only wore a loose-fitting jacket over my bra.

The woman dragged me out of the car, placing me upright with the backpack on my back. Everything from that point on went smoothly, no one even acquired as to where we were going or why. And when the man checked out my passport he didn't question anything. This surprised me because of course it wasn't my passport, just something the woman had pulled out of her backpack.

The guard waved the woman and I through. "Myra and Leila, such pretty names for such beautiful girls, have a great time in Greenland!" I could tell he was obviously hitting on us, his hand lingering slightly longer on mine that the woman's.

As soon as we were out of earshot the woman began snickering. "Such nice names, yeah such nice FAKE names." She chuckled under her breath. "See you in hell perv." And with that she grabbed my wrist and pulled me forward to a spot where her and the man must have designated to meet.

"Well that was hell." The guy laughed, obviously getting some inside joke that I had no knowledge of.

"Oh, ha, funny-mine was such a pervert…humans these days. Careful, if someone over hears us they'll set the guard on us." The woman glanced around nervously.

Timed seemed to stretch on as I could feel myself falling back into the fog, I knew that the plane ride would be taking my chances, but I didn't see any other option. The woman was so intimidating, but even if I did have the guts to tell her there wasn't much they could do on the plane—after all there are other passengers. And either way I was going to die, if not by her hand than by the hands of fate.

The only way I was going to get out of this was if some miracle occurred, and I had long ago stopped believing in them. In fact, the moment I learned my disease was incurable I had stopped believing in happy endings in general.

When a gate attendant called our flight I couldn't even stand I felt so weak. The woman must have assumed it was exhaustion because she dragged me dutifully on the plane. I wasn't sure how or why the attendant at the gate questioned her, but either way we made it onboard.

My vision faded out as the plane headed towards the runway. And I solemnly prepared to die.

AN: Sorry it's short but this week is just hectic for me and I wanted to be sure I posted SOMETHING before I got too busy…


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight

Chapter 15

EPOV:

Finding the map had been the break we were hoping for. Whatever vampire had drawn the map had obviously been forgetful, because he had labeled each and every spot on the map with readable names. No code to crack, no indistinguishable pictures, and everything was perfectly to scale.

Our luck ran out however, once we found the place labeled 'Canada Lair' on the map. The door was bolted shut, something similar to what a paranoid human would do. Carlisle and I struggled for a few moments before we came to the conclusion that breaking the hinges would be considerably quicker.

Once that was done, we began to scour the house like wolves for prey, desperately hoping for something, anything, that would point to where the vampire had taken Bella. I had been so absorbed in my thoughts that it wasn't until Carlisle pointed it out that my nose even dared to smell the sliver of scent that reeked of a second vampire.

"Something's up Edward, there's no blood, no personal belongings, no nothing. Almost like they-"

I finished Carlisle's sentence for him. "—Left for good." Running a shaking hand through my hair I let a deep breath out, but to my dismay it didn't calm my nerves in the least.

Carlisle frowned, obviously trying to think this thing out. "They had to have left by car, because there's a set of car keys left in the bedroom under the bed, yet there's no car in the garage."

"Unless they hotwired it." I pointed out as I delicately searched through the kitchen cupboards that were full of nothing but random papers and firewood.

"Unlikely, that's not reliable. These vampires were desperate to get away, they'd want a reliable form of transportation." Carlisle added sifting through a desk that was also close to vacated.

"I guess the question is, where would they go?" My heart began beating faster out of sheer nervousness; we needed to find an answer and soon.

"Somewhere cold, with no sun most likely. Which is in Bella's favor."

"She wouldn't survive to plane ride." Sighing I ran my hands through my hair as I continuously threw papers and random twigs over my shoulder. Who were these people? And what was with the twigs?

"Greenland." Carlisle whispered suddenly, staring at some sort of bill in his hands.

It took a moment for my stress-muddled mind to comprehend the words. But as soon as the initial meaning sunk in I was back out in the cold running towards the main road.

Carlisle wasn't far behind me. He was on his phone calling Esme to ask her where the closest airport to our location was. The others had already given up their searches, having come up with nothing, and Carlisle and I were sure now that these two vampires had to have taken Bella.

The first airport we reached was about the size of a shoebox and I immediately deduced that this would not be and airport offering any international flights soon. Looking at my watch I realized almost an entire day had passed. I'm sure if my heart were still beating within my chest it would have skipped a beat with that realization—we could already be too late, she could be de—.

No Edward, I chastised myself, don't go there, don't lose hope. She's alive, she just has to be. I repeated this mantra in my head while we ran to the next closest airport. This one, also, was a bust because they reported that they had closed almost four months ago for renovations.

Whatever higher power residing in the sky must have been watching over Carlisle and I though, because five miles later we ran across the shell of what looked to have once been a car. And there, not far from the metallic ruins, lay a jacket.

Never before had I run so fast. I must have been going at least two hundred, maybe more. Either way Carlisle fell behind me by quite a few miles after only a few minutes. I was racing against a deadly enemy that would be cruel to defeat—time itself.

I had recognized the jacket immediately. It had been one of Rosalie's favorites until she'd played baseball in it one day and it had gotten ripped slightly down one of the sides. Rosalie hadn't said it was missing but I guessed it was because we were all so occupied trying to figure out what things of Bella's were missing that we never thought to look to see if she had borrowed anything that belonged to either of the girls.

It didn't take me long to come upon an enormous airport just outside of what appeared to be a major city. At this point I didn't care much to read any signs, all I could think about was getting Bella back. I did, however, remember to slow down to a human speed as I approached the drop-off zone.

My feet seemed to have a mind of their own, seeing as they were still moving themselves at a brisk walking pace. Rationally, I knew approaching the desk like a crazy man wouldn't do any good, it would only result in me being thrown out or getting security called on me.

The drop off strip was divided into sections based on the airline you were flying, making everything infinitely more difficult on my part. I knew for a fact that they weren't flying with any company that contained the word 'America' in the name, so that eliminated about half of the airlines present. Contemplating the rest took less than three minutes when, finally, I decided to approach the most logical choice, putting on a charming façade before approaching the woman at the desk.

"Excuse me but I am wondering when the next flight to Greenland is." I flashed her my most dazzling smile making sure to add in a wink for good measure.

The woman flushed, obviously more embarrassed than flirtatious, which I knew would be harder to work to my advantage if she refused to tell me or grew suspicious, but at this point I was willing to try anything.

"Well you just missed the closest one, it's going out to the runaway now. The next one is in—"

If I had been human my heart would have stopped. "Is there, I mean, is there a way to stop it?" The fear was so obvious in my voice I'm sure even she could hear it.

"No sir, I'm sorry but I can book you for the nine o' clock flight—"

I didn't even let her finish her sentence before I was off running at a seemingly human pace. My father fell into step beside me as I pulled out my phone and began dialing.

He gave me a weird look, raising his eyebrows. I shrugged as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "We have a plane to stop."

AN: So I've been thinking of putting together a collection of short stories/one shots by a bunch of different authors, would any of you be interested in participating? Let me know.

Thanks for reading! Please Review!


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